Flowing gas streams often contain particulate material that must be removed from the gas stream. The particulate material may be an undesirable contaminant in the gas stream. Alternatively, the gas stream may contain a desirable particulate material, for example, in a process for manufacturing the particulate. Similarly, flowing gas streams may contain liquids or aerosols, either desirable or undesirable, that must be removed from the gas stream.
There presently exist several systems and methods for removing particulate material and/or liquids from gas streams, including inertial, viscous, diffusion, filtration, and electrostatic separation systems and methods. These existing systems for separating solids and liquids from gas streams may be inefficient, pose unnecessary environmental hazards, and may be costly to manufacture and operate. Further background regarding available systems and methods may be found in the applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 9,101,869, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.